Coca-Cola to launch first alcoholic drink

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) is trying to pop into the booze market in an approach never before used by the company.

The global beverage company said it would experiment with the alcoholic drink in Japan’s budding market for Chu-Hi, a canned drink made with shochu, a Japanese spirit made from distilled grains, sparkling water and flavoring.

This would be the first time Coke sells an alcoholic beverage, breaking away from its typical business model of non-alcoholic beverages.

“We haven’t experimented in the low alcohol category before, but it’s an example of how we continue to explore opportunities outside our core areas,” Jorge Garduno, president of Coca-Cola’s Japan business unit, said in a blog post.

In Japan, Coke will compete with Suntory, one of the world’s largest premium spirits companies, which currently makes a Chu-Hi beverage with a 3% alcohol content called Horoyoi, as well as Kirin and Ashai. MORE HERE

I am quite fond of the Korean version (soju) of the rice whiskey mentioned above. It’s about 45 proof green (unaged) rice whiskey, very good with spicy Korean food. I cannot imagine mixing it with anything though.

Vanilla rum and coke was a favorite of mine in the days before diabetes. (With Cruzan vanilla rum.)

Back in the fifties in my pre-teen years, as a soda fountain jerk, hamburger flipper ice cream banana split, sunsae maker, etc. in our store, I used to make fountain cherry cokes, vanilla cokes and chocolate cokes daily for customers. Not one customer asked for a shochu coke.